The present invention relates to an apparatus for placing groups of products on pallets. In particular, the invention can be used to perform the so-called palletisation, i.e. to arrange, on one or more pallets, groups of products stacked and placed side-by-side so as to form layers.
A non limiting example of products of this kind are pre-formed cardboard plane die-cut boards destined to provide packaging for various products such as, for instance, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, foodstuffs and others. These plane die cut boards are called, in the technical language of the field, blanks.
One of the first phases in the production of the aforesaid packages is to group together the blanks, already fitted with notches and arriving from the machines which produce them (dinking dies), in stacks set side by side and overlaid onto related transport pallets. On each pallet is constructed a series of "planes" each defined by a number of ranks of blanks simply set side by side, whereas two successive planes are separated by intermediate cardboard sheets allowing the stacks to be supported and stabilised one on top of the other. Once a pallet is complete, its perimeter is "wrapped" with a plastic or paper film, after being clamped--if need be--with straps by means of a strapping station.
Generally, the blanks may arrive from the dinking die already arranged in stacks of a certain height and, therefore, they must be placed on the pallets and packaged for their final move. These operations are performed manually, at least until placement on the pallet, prior to wrapping with a plastic film.
From the summary description given so far, it can be noted that among the problems related to the current movement of the pallets loaded with blanks exiting dinking dies (or other die-cut or plane products to be handled in a stacked arrangement) there are some negative characteristics, which can be summed up as follows:
lack of, or in any case insufficient control over the quality of the stacks of blanks being put out by the machines that produce them, with the resulting need to conduct a subsequent check in correspondence with the production line before they can be used; PA1 slow and inaccurate definition of the ranks of blanks: it is performed manually or semi-automatically by operators tasked with removing the stacks of blanks exiting the machines, requiring a relatively long time also in loading the pallets.